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There's a bunch of digital games on sale now. I don't have a full list handy, but there's a tile on the dashboard that takes you to most of them. I copped Diablo 3.

EDIT - Here's the list: -

There's more Xbox One deals coming on Friday: -

ThaJim2 wrote:Rumor is that MS store will have AC bundle for 330 (fact) but you also get a choice of an additional game (rumor).

This rumor is true and it looks like it is still in stock now.

wish I had checked that earlier. out of stock now.

alpha wrote:wish I had checked that earlier. out of stock now.

For a brief time on Thanksgiving day they had a bundle that came with a refurbished XB1 w/ Kinect, download codes for Rise, Dance Central, and Forza 5, and the choice of a free game for $330.00!

I picked up a new headset for my Xbox One today: -



A Turtle Beach Stealth 500x. I believe it's the top of the line as far as Xbox One headsets go. I'll post a few of the pros and cons.

Pros: -

It's well built and it's light and comfortable. The ear cups go totally over your ears.

It's 100% wireless. It comes with a small transmitter that connects to the Xbox One via USB and optical. That sends/receives the audio, so the headset itself doesn't need to be connected to anything.

It's rechargeable. It comes with a USB charging cable. It supposedly lasts 12-15 hours, but I haven't had it long enough to test that. It can be used while you're charging it.

The audio is very good. It supports surround sound and there are various different presets and modes, some of which are customisable. The mic gives great audio quality.

It has mic monitoring, which can be set to off, low or high, so if you want to hear your own voice through the headset, you can. I think they could do with adding a "medium" setting though, as when it's set to low, you can barely hear yourself. The high setting is fine for me, but some might want a level that's in between the two.

All of the controls are on the headset itself. There's a power on/off button, separate volume controls for game audio and party/voice audio, a mic mute button, a mic monitoring button, plus buttons to switch between the different modes and presets.

It's properly supported by the Xbox One, so when you turn it on, a notification pops up saying that the headset has been assigned to your gamertag.

Cons: -

No stand. Considering the price, it would have been nice if a stand was included, ideally a stand that also charges the headset.

Some headsets use recorded voice clips to tell you which preset/mode you're using. With this, it's just a series of beeps, so 1 beep is preset 1, 2 beeps is preset 2 etc., but that means you have to learn what all the presets and modes are. It would have been better if they'd use voice clips that say "game mode", "signature sound" etc. so you know exactly what you've selected.

Out of the box, you need to update the firmware of both the headset and the transmitter. I didn't have a problem doing this, but some people have had issues where they couldn't get the drivers to install, so the software wouldn't detect anything. Also, the software is currently only available for Windows, so if you use OS X, Linux or whatever you will need access to a Windows PC to update the firmware.

Some people aren't very happy with the max volume. For me, it's plenty loud enough and I don't have the headset set to the max, but that's a potential con.

No Bluetooth. It has a 3.5mm jack for connecting up your phone, so you can hear notification sounds and take calls and stuff, but it would have been better if it had Bluetooth, then it could remain wireless when you're using it with a phone or PC.

The price. In the UK most retailers are selling it for £199.99. I used Flubit to get it for £185, which is still quite a lot.

All in all, I'm very happy with it.

A bunch of new features were added to the Twitch app yesterday, including the ability to watch video on demand. Full details are here: -

http://blog.twitch.tv/2014/12/xbox-one- ... -features/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like Microsoft is offering a new deal:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msu ... .307070100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Assassin's Creed bundle + extra free game for $350. Not as good as the black friday deal but okay for those that missed out.

How much bandwidth is required to broadcast on Twitch? I only have ~1.5 up at this time.

^^I don't know the answer to that one, sorry man.

There's a bunch of stuff on sale from now until the 31st. Possibly the best deal is The Telltale Games Collection, which is currently 50% off (£35 in the UK), which gives you The Walking Dead seasons 1 and 2, The Wolf Among Us, Tales From The Borderlands and Game of Thrones. Only episode 1 of the last 2 have been released, but the collection includes the season passes for both so you'll get the other episodes at no extra cost when they're released.

Oh and if you have EA Access and downloaded that UFC game, the Bruce Lee add-on is currently free.

Fucking hackers today took down both live and psn.

On a more positive note. I got a bunch of games and a steering wheel. WWF, FH2, Lego Batman, Halo and a few others.

Also, the sound of my headset has been fucked up the last week. I cant hear anyone and they cant here me but it shows the light go on and off with mute and it beeps when you push the volume all the way up. It worked once very randomly but other wise has not for about the alst week.

I'm tempted to pick up a Scuf controller for my Xbox One: -

http://eu.scufgaming.com/controllers/sc ... /features/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What I like about them is the paddles on the back. I think someone on here might have mentioned them the other week. They're expensive though!

MS have announced details of the dashboard update for February: -



If you're in the preview program, a preview version of the February dashboard is available right now.

A demo of the beta version of the new Upload Studio: -

There's a game sale on Xbox Live next week. The deals were accidentally put up on Xbox.com before being removed: -

Alien Isolation - $24
Alien Isolation Season Pass - $12
Angry Birds Star Wars - $10
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - $40
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Digital Pro Edition - $75
Costume Quest 2 - $5
Destiny - $40
Destiny Digital Guardian Edition - $67.50
Fantasia: Music Evolved - $20
Forza Motorsport 5 - $30
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - $24
Killer Instinct: Complete Edition - $48
Kinect Sports Rivals - $10
Lara Craft & The Temple of Osiris - $8
Lara Croft & The Temple of Osisis & Season Pass - $11.60
Lords of The Fallen - $9
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - $30
Monopoly Family Fun Pack - $20
NBA Live 15 - $9
Shadow of Mordor Season Pass - $15
Sniper Elite III - $10
Styx: Master of Shadows - $7.50
Telltale Games Collection - $55
The Crew - $40
The Crew Gold Edition - $57
The Walking Dead: Season 1 & 2 Bundle - $20
Trials Fusion Deluxe Edition - $8
Trials Fusion Season Pass - $6.66
Watch_Dogs - $24

Those prices are for people who have Xbox Live Gold. The same games/content are discounted for non-Gold members, but in some cases, the prices are a little higher.

Here's a cached version of the sale page: -

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... deals-TEST" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

^^^

Is this sale coming to the US as well?

Also, is NBA Live 15 a good game? I only play sports games occasionally with friends/family so for 9 bucks it might be worth having on the console ready for a quick game of basketball (I don't own 2K15).

Yeah man, those are the US prices.

I've not played NBA Live 15, but it's supposedly coming to EA Access shortly, so if you have that you might as well wait.

Upload Studio 2.0 is available to download. You'll get prompted to update (253 MB) when you launch Upload Studio, or if you use instant on mode the update will download automatically.

Here's a video explaining the changes: -

For those in the preview program, the March preview update is out. It includes: -

Screenshots - You can take a screenshot via Kinect or by using the controller. You can use screenshots as custom backgrounds. In a future preview update (before it goes public in March), you will be able to share screenshots to your activity feed, upload them to OneDrive and attach them to messages - all the things you can do with Game DVR clips, basically.

Suggested friends - I'm not entirely sure how the algorithm works, but it's supposedly designed to suggest people you might now (friends of friends who play similar games, presumably) as well as suggesting popular content creators and Twitch streamers.

Tile transparency controls - You can now choose from 4 levels of transparency, one of which is "off".

Real name sharing - You can already use your real name on Live if you want to, but now there's 2 extra options - share it with everybody on Live and share it with all of your friends.

There's a few other little bits and pieces, such as OneGuide and TV Tuner support for Australia, a "report spam" option, and some additional privacy/security options.

Sling TV is now available on the Xbox One. It gives you access to a bunch of TV channels for $20 a month.



You can also sign up for a free 1 month trial to test it out.

Sigma wrote:Sling TV is now available on the Xbox One. It gives you access to a bunch of TV channels for $20 a month.



You can also sign up for a free 1 month trial to test it out.

you have a channel listing for this?

yo sigma, if you dont mind me asking ... what do you do for a living? are you working in the video games biz as a designer? i know None is a writer but what do you do?

ChaMerZ wrote:yo sigma, if you dont mind me asking ... what do you do for a living? are you working in the video games biz as a designer? i know None is a writer but what do you do?

I suppose the short answer is "nothing".

Just over a decade ago, I started getting sick. I carried on working, but it was a struggle. Then things got worse and I had to stop working. After seeing various medical professionals, I ended up getting diagnosed with "chronic fatigue syndrome" which has got worse and worse as the years have progressed.

I'm currently trying to study for a degree from home, as I have to do something or I'll go insane, but it's tough going.

Sigma wrote:

ChaMerZ wrote:yo sigma, if you dont mind me asking ... what do you do for a living? are you working in the video games biz as a designer? i know None is a writer but what do you do?

I suppose the short answer is "nothing".

Just over a decade ago, I started getting sick. I carried on working, but it was a struggle. Then things got worse and I had to stop working. After seeing various medical professionals, I ended up getting diagnosed with "chronic fatigue syndrome" which has got worse and worse as the years have progressed.

I'm currently trying to study for a degree from home, as I have to do something or I'll go insane, but it's tough going.

woah, sorry to hear that. but 'work' isn't what it's all cracked up to be. as long as you are able to support yourself, that's what matters.

Looks like OTA tuners are now supported in the US for Xbox One:

http://slickdeals.net/f/7784387-xbox-on ... -67-fs?v=1

Edit: I picked one of these up to replace the set top box I mentioned in a previous post. The Kinect's IR blast would only power it on/off and change the channels properly about half the time, and it will be nice just to get rid of one more box I need under the TV.

Hush wrote:Looks like OTA tuners are now supported in the US for Xbox One:

http://slickdeals.net/f/7784387-xbox-on ... -67-fs?v=1

Edit: I picked one of these up to replace the set top box I mentioned in a previous post. The Kinect's IR blast would only power it on/off and change the channels properly about half the time, and it will be nice just to get rid of one more box I need under the TV.

So I need the May preview update to use the new TV tuner. Any Preview Program members here that wouldn't mind sending me an invite? My gamertag is Hush Lives.

If anyone wants a preview program invite, add me on Live (SigmaTheDJ) and send me a message over Live to remind me. EDIT - I've just sent you an invite, but what I said applies to anyone else that wants one.

The Xbox One is getting Miracast support soon, via a new wireless display app. That'll allow you to mirror the display of any Miracast-compatible device such as a Windows PC and many Android devices. Pretty cool. Also, it's a minor thing, but you can now turn your Xbox One on and off via SmartGlass, which will be handy for people who use the remote TV streaming feature (and the upcoming game streaming) as you'll be able to turn your console on via a tablet in your bedroom, for instance, so you can stream TV to it without having to go downstairs and turn the console on. It's already been added to the beta version of SmartGlass I believe, but it should be rolled out to the regular version soon enough.

Sigma I just added you fam, I don't want any invites or whatever. I just wanted to be your friend.

Nice one man! Have you only got the new Mortal Kombat for your Xbox at the moment?